


Extraordinary Measures

by StellarLibraryLady



Series: Star Trek The Gentle Seasons Series [37]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Arguing, Bickering, Blood, Developing Relationship, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Frustrated Kirk, Kissing, M/M, Protective Spock, Turbolift, minor accident, protecting, protective McCoy, reassuring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-05-21 07:51:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14911346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StellarLibraryLady/pseuds/StellarLibraryLady
Summary: A minor accident changes the tone of Spock and McCoy's bickering and makes those on the Bridge wonder just what happened in that turbolift anyway.





	Extraordinary Measures

”I tell you, Spock, you’ve got your head screwed on backwards this morning!” McCoy snapped with eyes blazing.

“And I assure you, Doctor, that I do not. My head is attached to my body in the same manner in which it has always been attached,” Spock replied coolly with his arms crossed over his chest. "Perhaps it is your perception that is distorting your viewpoint, as it does during so many of those times when you misinterpret what you are seeing when you look at me."

"Are you saying that I am blind to what I'm seeing?!"

"I believe that I am saying that your preconceived notion has you blind to what is actually real."

An audible gasp was heard, then everyone on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise held their breath. The bickering between the two officers had suddenly turned serious, and everyone felt uncomfortable. But like watching a coiled snake, the other crew members could not break the bond of fascination that forced them to be witnesses of the argument. They would not have looked away, even if they could.

Spock looked contrite almost at once. He hadn't meant to get that personal. Now he was facing an apology, and he had no idea where to begin. And in front of the crew, too.

McCoy saw Spock's dilemma and jumped in. Hell, he didn't want to break the man, just best him.

"I might have been mistaken," McCoy said. "It happens sometimes."

Spock had quickly recovered. "I suppose that could be a problem."

"I still say that you are looking at facts wrong."

"You are entitled to your opinion."

McCoy glared at the haughty man who was not relenting another inch.

“Oh, I give up! Live in your ignorance! I'm outa here!” McCoy darted for the turbolift, but Spock was right on his heels. “Why the hell are you following me?!” McCoy demanded.

“I am not following you, Doctor. I wish to use the turbolift, too.”

"Well, don't dawdle!" McCoy ordered as he stood just inside the turbolift and glared at Spock. "The door will slam on you, and there will be your green goo all over the floor and walls! Then I'll have my hands full of trying to patch you up again! Hard telling what you'd manage to split or displace! Then I'll have to knit you back together and sit up with you all night to make certain that you don't die on us!"

"You would not need to sit up with me, Doctor."

"Oh, yes, I would! How do you expect me to get any sleep if I have somebody trying to slip through Death's door?! Damn Vulcan! Never think of the inconvenience you cause to others, do you?! Cluttering up my sickbay just because you can't take the time to be cautious!"

"If you will allow me to enter also, Doctor, I believe that you will find that it is not my intention of having the door slam on me. And be certain that you are hanging onto the proper safety devices so that you will not be bleeding your red goo all over the floor and walls, either, as you so charmingly referred to blood. I am certain that either color of our blood would prove to be equally difficult to remove when it came time to clean the turbolift."

"Got all the answers, don't you?!"

"I do know that we need to take simple precautions in regards to our safety."

McCoy growled under his breath, but did not argue as the door slid shut on the two combatants.

The bridge seemed unnaturally quiet with the debaters gone. Sulu and Chekov exchanged embarrassed glances while Uhura let out the breath that she had not realized that she was holding. Everyone could relax once more, and they stirred in their places as if amazed that the turbulence was past.

Scotty was more verbal. “Is that really wise, Captain?” he asked with dramatic eyes rolling in alarm. “Leaving them alone like that?”

"It's the best possible solution," Kirk answered.

Scotty looked wild. "Sir?"

Kirk gave him a lazy smile. “They have to take care of each other. Otherwise each would be the chief suspect if something happened to the other one.”

Scotty's worried face cleared into a grin. “Aye, Captain. There is that!”

At that moment, a forceful jolt was felt all over the Enterprise.

“What was that, Scotty?!” Kirk demanded as he looked concerned from his command chair. “Did we go through some sort of debris field?!”

“I don’t know, Captain!” Scotty answered as he scanned his control panel. "The instruments are going crazy! I don't know what's gotten into them!"

A second jolt shook the ship.

“Scotty?!”

“I don’t know! But it’s over with now, Captain." He checked his instruments again. "No serious damage. I'm getting reports from all over the ship that everything is still intact! That's amazing for the shaking that we took!”

“But what about the men in the turbolift?!" Kirk demanded, suddenly remembering. "Those jolts couldn’t have been good for them!”

At that moment, the door to the turbolift opened and showed Spock and McCoy. The jolts had returned the men to where they had originally started.

Kirk jumped to his feet. “Bones! Spock! Are you guys alright?!”

“Sufficiently, Captain,” Spock answered as he delicately dabbed at his mouth with his fingers. His attention was not on his answer to Kirk, but rather on his injuries.

Then Kirk saw that McCoy had his head lowered and was holding his hand over his own mouth. McCoy seemed dazed.

“What happened?”! Kirk demanded. “Were you two fighting?!”

“Not exactly, Jim,” McCoy answered as he took his hand away and gently touched the blood on his lips.

Kirk’s eyes bugged. Red blood was smeared on McCoy's face, but the blood on his mouth was green! Kirk’s head shot around to Spock at the same moment that Spock discovered that the blood on his fingers was red along with his own green.

“What was going on in that turbolift?!” Kirk roared. “Why do you have each others’ blood on your mouths?!”

“Transfusion?” McCoy squeaked lamely.

“How?!” Kirk roared again. “Mouth to mouth?! Gentlemen, what in the hell happened in there?!”

"I'm not too sure," McCoy replied, still dazed.

"Spock?!"

"We had managed to resume our 'discussion' once we got in the turbolift, Captain."

"And I suppose that it had not lost any of its former heat?!" Kirk asked.

”No, Captain.” Spock frowned. "In fact, it may have been more adamant than when we had been on the bridge. It was getting quite warm in the turbolift, and it takes quite a rise in temperature for me to notice."

"But what caused the jolts?!"

”Perhaps a malfunction caused by a short circuit?” Spock offered.

"A short circuit caused by what, Mr. Spock?!”

”The rise in heat in the turbolift?” Spock offered lamely.

”Just where did you study thermodynamics, Mr. Spock?!” Kirk snarled as he turned to Bones. “Well, do you have any extraordinary theories, Doctor?!”

McCoy was grinning almost like an embarrassed school boy. “I was kinda liking Spock’s theory myself.”

”You both need to go back to school for basic science!”

”I don’t know, Jim. It was getting rather hot in there.”

”Wanna try your story again, Dr. McCoy?!” Kirk demanded with his exasperation showing. "What happened in there?!"

"I, ah, can't say, Jim,” McCoy answered sheepishly. “We were rather occupied."

"I'm glad that you gentlemen weren't driving a car! Or piloting the Enterprise! You’d make hellish witnesses at wrecks, too! Now, tell me what you remember happening! If you weren't arguing too hard for even that!"

“Well, ah, the turbolift lurched,” Spock started.

”I know that much!”

“And it startled the both of us,” McCoy continued.

”Reasonable,” Kirk decided, calming now that he was getting some straight answers.

“And it occurred to me that Dr. McCoy might need reassurance because of the sudden jolt. Then I noticed that his stabilization had been compromised. Even though I had previously cautioned him, he looked to have lost his balance when the jolt shook the ship. He was floundering.”

“Seeing as how we were in a turbolift when a malfunction occurred, we could be in a bad situation. I was startled and alarmed for our safety, so I had let loose of the safety hold. That's why I was floundering,” McCoy supplied.

“So I reached out to steady him.”

McCoy couldn’t quite meet Spock’s eyes. “And his hand touched my shoulder. But instead of stopping, it slid behind my back.”

“It seemed reasonable for me to provide maximum protection,” Spock explained quickly.

“So both of his arms went around me. About the time I reached out to steady him.”

“I wanted to make certain that he did not fall. I believed that I needed to take extraordinary measures to protect him, Captain.”

"So did I. To protect him. I didn't want him to fall, either, because he had taken his hand off his own safety device to help me," McCoy supplied lamely. "So I grabbed him, too. But, of course, my arms slid around him, because there was nothing to stop them. Like Spock's arms would've done if they hadn't been around me."

"And we were holding on quite firmly because of our mutual concern for the other's safety, of course," Spock added.

"Of course," McCoy reaffirmed.

“Hmm,” was the only remark that Kirk made. He was thinking of the mind picture he had of them in a tight clinch.

"As for the damage done to our mouths, that occurred as a natural order of events."

"That's right," McCoy said to back him up.

“I suppose that the forward thrust from both of us sent us into a collision course with each other," Spock further explained.

McCoy grunted assent.

"That would account for our faces slamming together," Spock decided.

"And somehow our lips managed to find each other,” McCoy muttered. "Because by this time they were in close proximity."

“For maximum reassurance,” Spock supplied quickly. 

"And it worked," McCoy offered with a wily smile. "I was quite reassured. And I was not tense at all, despite the prospect of imminent death."

"Hmm," was the only remark that Kirk made again, but he looked very serious.

“And then the damned ship jolted again,” McCoy mumbled with a frown. "While our arms were around each other. And while our lips were pressed together. For, ah, maximum protection.

"And for reassurance, also," Spock added.

"Oh, yes, for reassurance, also," McCoy agreed.

Spock supplied the rest. “And I must now assume, with the current unavoidable evidence before me, that our teeth bit each other on the lips while we were, ah, reassuring and, ah, protecting each other.”

"Yes, while we were, ah, reassuring and protecting each other," McCoy hastened to agree.

Kirk looked from one to the other. "Is that all that you have to report about the situation?" he finally asked.

Spock and McCoy both mumbled answers that sounded like assent.

"Gentlemen, that's a most unique way to describe a kiss, you know."

Spock raised one eyebrow. "Quite, Captain."

McCoy, for once, had nothing to say.

“Hmm,” Kirk hummed again. “You know, that damage to your lips wouldn’t have happened if you had kissed with your mouths closed.”

“I assure you, Captain, that kissing had not been our intention, either with closed mouths or open ones.”

“Well, then, am I to assume that you two were drawn together by the strong magnets that you both habitually keep housed and hidden in your mouths?!” Kirk snapped.

“What magnets?” Spock asked innocently.

“He’s being snide, Spock,” McCoy snapped. “Surely you recognize the term. You accuse me of being snide all of the time.”

“I do not accuse you of being snide, Doctor. I accuse you of being uninformed.”

“No, it is that you do not recognize my information as being valid!”

“Look, if you two don’t stop that arguing, I’ll put you both in that turbolift and make you ride it up and down for awhile!” Kirk snapped.

“It’s a deal, as long as you don’t make the ship jolt again! I don't want to have my mouth hurt anymore!” McCoy snapped back. Then he suddenly stopped as he realized what he’d just said and how it could be misinterpreted.

And that rascal Jim Kirk went along with the misinterpretation. “Why? You don’t want to chip your teeth when you start kissing this time, either?”

“We weren’t kissing!”

“Then what in the hell do you call it, Bones?!”

“Well, I guess that maybe it was a little kissing,” McCoy growled in concession. “But it was purely an accident! Right, Spock?”

McCoy looked at Spock for confirmation, but was alarmed to find Spock with a smug and satisfied look on his face. 

“Spock!" McCoy demanded. "What the hell are you thinking about?!”

“Turbolift rides,” Spock answered dreamily. "And unexpected jolts."

McCoy paused while he began looking dreamy, too.

“I’m beginning to think that additional turbolift rides wouldn’t be a punishment for you two,” Kirk muttered.

“Perhaps the turbolift needs to be examined for damages,” Spock proposed. “Since we were the two riding in it when the incidents occurred, Dr. McCoy and I will volunteer for that duty.”

“We’ll do what?!” McCoy bellowed with blazing eyes. “What the hell are you talking about now?! You must’ve hit your head when we got jolted!”

“That is correct,” Spock said with sudden interest. “Maybe I have been injured. You will need to take me to sickbay right away to be examined.”

“I can check you over right here!”

“Oh, I believe that there might be hidden injuries. I will need to be examined closely and discretely. By you.”

“The only hidden injury you have is to your common sense,” McCoy protested.

“No, I think he’s right, Bones.”

“What?!”

“I think that you need to take Spock to sickbay, or somewhere else private, to check him out. And then monitor him, say for the rest of the day. Or maybe even overnight.”

"Sound advice, Captain," Spock agreed with that smug look back on his face.

“You’re crazy! You’re both crazy!”

Spock hooked McCoy around the waist with his arm and quick-marched him toward the errant turbolift.

“Stop!” McCoy protested. “Where are you taking me?!”

“To the turbolift, Doctor.”

“But where after that?!” McCoy demanded.

Spock stopped and studied McCoy with a soft, flirting look. “Why, whichever quarters of ours is closest, I suppose.”

“And what are your purposes for doing that, Commander?” McCoy asked in a suddenly soft voice of his own.

"So you can examine me. And monitor me."

"Oh, yeah, you might have hidden symptoms. We mustn't neglect that possibility." McCoy seemed mesmerized with his study of Spock's swollen lips.

“I believe that we might have found a solution for our constant arguing, Doctor. Or at least something that might be more mutually satisfying. It certainly took our minds off bickering for awhile.”

McCoy returned Spock’s deep gaze. “I might be interested in your solution.” He extended his hand toward the turbolift. "After you, Commander?"

Spock held out his own hand. "Doctor? I insist."

"You're my patient!" McCoy snapped.

Spock gave him a pointed look. Then, with a soft, beguiling smile, he said, "Shall we go together? Leonard?"

McCoy returned the warm look that surely singed the edges of Spock's nerve endings, then they stepped inside the turbolift.

"Now, where were we in our discussion?" McCoy ventured.

"I am certain that I was prepared to make a succinct point, Doctor."

"Well, don't keep me in suspense! What is it that you think I desperately need to know?!"

"In all due course, Doctor. I believe that it will be for your ears alone," Spock answered smugly.

"Oh?" McCoy asked skeptically.

"Yes. In fact, I may need to demonstrate my theory."

The turbolift door closed on them just then.

“Is that really wise, Captain?” Scotty asked with trepedition. “Leaving them alone like that?”

"It's the best possible solution," Kirk answered, feeling that he'd just had this same conversation with Scotty only a short while ago.

Scotty looked wild. "Sir?"

Kirk decided to change the dialogue because he knew that the real-life circumstances had changed. “They want to take care of each other now. And we'll let them. Otherwise they'll just get crabby if someone else interferes."

Another violent jolt shook the Enterprise.

"Captain! They're in the turbolift again!"

"Yeah, and now I think I know what's causing those jolts."

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing of Star Trek, its characters, and/or its story lines.


End file.
